A Narrative “Story of the Week” about my quest to understand the dissolution of my parents’ marriage and the disintegration of our family. The story opens in Spain and is intertwined with The Spirit of the Beehive (El espíritu de la colmena), a masterpiece of Spanish cinema that’s celebrating its 50th anniversary.

I talked with Amitava Kumar about coming to terms with his father’s death, reclaiming what he lost when he immigrated to America, and how art can be a site of both mourning and hope. This is the latest in my Tricycle interview series about Tibetan bardo and the art of living, Between-States: Conversations About Bardo and Life. The conversations look at acceptance, interconnectedness, and impermanence in relation to children and parents, marriage and friendship, and work and creativity. Other guests include Yiyun Li, Isabel Allende, Dani Shapiro, Edwidge Danticat, Melissa Febos, Gish Jen, David Sedaris, John McPhee, and Mohsin Hamid.

I contributed two pieces to The Penguin Book of Modern Tibetan Essays: "Traveling in Bardo" (an illness I experienced as a bardo) and "Calcutta Evening" (a journey to reconnect with my Tibetan roots.) I’m honored to be in the company of so many wonderful writers.

“I have been waiting over the years for a collection of groundbreaking and current Tibetan essays, and this book delivers and then some. Vital and mind-blowing at the same time.” — Gary Shteyngart

“What is desire? And what are its rules? In this daring collection, award-winning and emerging female writers share their innermost longings...” In my essay, I look at Buddhism and desire through the lens of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and my own search for self. “Slater’s essay underscores what’s at stake when women write about desire: self-determination and the realization of their full humanity.” (Ploughshares)

A “Talk of the Town” piece about The Manuscript Writing Cafe in Tokyo. You can only enter the cafe if you have a deadline and you can’t leave until you’ve met your goal.

I explore how I found my way back to my ancestors through The Tibetan Book of the Dead. “Even as I gradually understood more about The Tibetan Book of the Dead, its essence eluded me… Then two things happened that changed my understanding of the book, as well as my view of how to live my life.”

This is what happened when my son flew back to the nest from college because of COVID-19. “We fell into familiar rhythms — meals together, walks around the city, long talks — but with one big difference: My son is now an adult. He’s also part of the politically aware generation born between the mid-1990s and early 2000s that includes environmental activist Greta Thunberg and gun control advocate Emma González.”

A Notable in Best American Essays 2021, and featured in Memoir Monday. I explore what I learned from my father, and Montaigne, about how to live well. “As a philosopher and a physician, my father wasn’t afraid of dying; if anything, he feared coming to the end of his life not having lived.”

My Tibetan family has a long history with tea. With many of us still largely sheltering in place because of the Covid-19 epidemic, now is an ideal moment to connect over a cup…